Segregated article washing unit



19% B. M. ALLEN SEGREGATED ARTICLE WASHING UNIT May 29 Filed NOV. 2,1959 INVENTOR. BERTHA M. ALLEN ATTORNEY.

United States Patent Ofiice 3,d3li,6l6 Patented May 29, 1952 3,036,616SEGREGATED ARTICLE WASHING UNIT Bertha M. Allen, 1742 Gum St., SanMateo, Calif. Filed Nov. 2, 1959, Ser. No. 850,355 3 Claims. (Cl. 1501)The invention, in general, relates to the art of laundering and moreparticularly relates to the washing of a plurality of the same kind orof different kinds and varieties of small articles of clothing in asingle operation.

As is perhaps well known, washing machines have been extensivelydeveloped in recent years to the end that the washing chores of ahousewife have been reduced to a minimum of time and effort and thatimproved washing machines, both for home use and for commerciallaundries have been designed to handle sheets, pillow cases, shirts,stockings, handkerchiefs, etc, in a single washing operation. One majordisadvantage, however, has been frequently encountered in the singlewashing operation; namely the entanglement of various articles with oneanother and sometimes the tearing or ripping of one or more garments orarticles. This problem has been increasingly encountered where anattempt has been made to speed the operation and to save on soap andwater. The present invention is directed to the provision of meansobviating the aforementioned disadvantages as well as reducing the timeand effort of washing small clothing articles that normally aresegregated or are to be segregated into individual lots.

A primary object of my invention is to provide an improved segregatedarticle washing unit which retains a plurality of articles in segregatedlots during an entire washing operation and which precludes anyentanglement of the articles one with another.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide animproved segregated article washing unit of the indicated nature whichmaintains its closures throughout the entire washing operation and thusprecludes the spilling or dislodgement of the contents of the units.

A still further object of my present invention is to pro vied animproved segregated article washing unit of the aforementioned characterwhich is additionally characterized by its inexpensive manufacture andmaintenance.

Other objects of the invention, together with some of the advantageousfeatures thereof, will appear from the following description of apreferred embodiment and cer-. tain modified embodiments of theinvention which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It is tobe understood, however, that I am not to be limited to the preciseembodiments shown, nor to the precise arrangements of the various partsthereof, as my invention, as delined in the appended claims, can beembodied in a plurality and variety of forms.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective View of a preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevational view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1and taken on the line 2--2 thereof.

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of a modified embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional detail of a modified embodiment of theinvention, primarily in the closure means therefor.

FIG. 5 is another fragmentary detail of a still further modification ofthe invention, primariy in the closure means therefor.

In its preferred form, the segregated article washing unit of my presentinvention preferably comprises a series of individual containers formingpart of a mesh bag or over-all network container; each of the individualcontainers serving to hold at least one article of clothing for washing,together with openable closure strips for the individual containers andfor the mesh bag as an entirety whereby articles to be washed can bereadily inserted into the individual containers and washed arti les canas readily be removed therefrom.

As a modified embodiment of my present invention, one or more of theindividual containers of the mesh bag or over-all network container isor are larger in capacity than the remainder of the individualcontainers whereby articles of clothing of different sizes may readilybe retained in the individual containers for washing in segregated lots.

In accordance with my invention, I provide an over-all network containeror mesh bag 11 which conveniently can be manufactured from a singlelength of network fabric or mesh of any desired width. As shownparticularly in FIG. 1 of the annexed drawings, a length of networkmaterial 12 is folded upon itself midway of its length, as at 13, andthe thus provided adjacent longitudinal edges, as indicated at 14, aresecured together conveniently by a line of stitching 16. The foldednetwork fabric 12 is then subdivided into a series of individualcontainers or pockets 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, and "23 by means of alongitudinally extending line of stitching 24 at the transverse centerof the length of fabric 12- and a pair of spaced lines of stitching 25and 27 preferably at equal distance from a medial line of the foldednetwork fabric 12. While the thus formed series of pockets, asillustrated in FIG. 1 of the annexed drawings, are of equal capacity orsize, it is within the purview of the present invention to make thesepockets 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23, inclusive, of any desired size and ofvariable sizes with respect to one another. The longitudinally extendingline of stitching 24 serves as the bottom of pockets 17, 13 and 19 whichare open at one side of the container 11 and also serves as a bottom forthe series of containers 21, 22 and 23 which open individually to theother side of the container 11. The thus formed container serves as a.receptacle for a number of articles of similar kind or of differentkind, such as hosiery of different shades, or handkerchiefs, or similarsmall articles of clothing or the like.

In order to provide the effective closures for the series of individualcontainers 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23, and thereby afford a completelyclosed container 11 that may be disposed in a washing machine so thatthe contents of the individual pockets 17, 18, 19, 21, 2-2 and 23 may bewashed in a single operation but as individual lots, I preferablyutilize opposed strips 31 and 3 2, see FIG. 2., of a material soldcommercially under the trademark Velcro; such closure strips being drycleanable, as well as washable, and being capable of being ironed with amedium iron. The Velco closure strips 31 and 32 will adhere together andwill stay together when pressure is applied to the external surfacesthereof and provide a complete closure for any unit to which they areattached. When it is desired to open the container 11 to gain access toany of the compartments 1'7, 18, 1?, 21, 22 and 23, inclusive, it isonly necessary to pull the Velcro strips apart which may be done withease by any housewife or anyone else even though unskilled in the art ofclosures. This type of closure; namely, the Velcro" strips 31 and 32have been used successfully on over-all containers of the typeillustrated in FIG. 1 for washing a number of items of clothing inindividual lots by depositing the articles in the individual containers17, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23. By successful operation, I mean that I havebeen able within a relatively short time to wash a number of hosewithout having the hose become entangled with one another or with anyother item of clothing and have been able to readily segregate thevarious shades of hosiery in a minimum of time. It is to be understood,of course, that one set of Velcro strips 31 and 32 are stitched,preferably by two rows of stitching 33 and 34 to the length of networkfabric 12 at one side thereof to effect the closure of the individualcontainers 1'7, 18 and 19 while another set of Velcro strips 36 and 37are stitched by two rows of stitching 33 and 3 to the other side of thefolded fabric length of material 12 to effect the closing of theindividual containers 21, 22 and 23. By the utilization of such closuremeans, it is obvious that l hav provided an overall container withopenable closures at opposite sides thereof to provide individualizedcompartments or con tainers 17, 13, 19, 21, '22 and 2 3 for washingsegregated lots of items of clothing.

In FIG. 3 of the annexed drawings, 1 have illustrated a modifiedembodiment of my present invention which is especially devised forwashing in segregated lots small articles of clothing as well as alarger article of cothing; namely, stockings or handkerchiefs in twosections there of and a brassiere or the like in an enlarged sectionthereof. To this end, I have provided an over-all mesh bag or networkcontainer 111 from a single piece of network fabric 112 folded uponitself as at 113 and which is stitched at its meeting edges 114 by aline of stitching at 116. The thus formed partial container 111 isdivided into individual containers 117, 118 and 119 by means of a longiatudinally extending line of stitching 12 4 at the transverse center ofthe piece of folded network fabric 112, as well as by a short line ofstitching 126 at the approximate longitudinal center of the folded pieceof network fabric 112. That is to say, the line of stitching 126 extendsfrom one lateral extremity of the fabric 112 to the longitudinallyextending line of stitching 124 to thus provide three individualcontainers 117, 118, 119 of which the latter is the larger orapproximately twice the size of either of the individual containers 117and 118. This over-all container 111 is provided, as in the case of thecontainer 11 of the preferred type with openable closures, generallyindicated by the reference numerals 13% consisting of opposed stripssold commercially under the trademark Velcro, as in the case of thepreferred embodiment of the invention. One set of opposed strips isapplied, by means of stitching 131 and 132,, at one side and across thetops of the individual containers 117 and 118 from one end of thecontainer 111 to the other, and the other pair of opposed strips ofVelcro is applied by means of stitching 138 and 139 across the openingof the large individual container 119 which opens to the other side ofthe overall container 111. With this embodiment, I have been able tosuccessfully wash in a single operation hosiery in individualizedcontainer 117, handkerchiefs in individualized container 118 and abrassiere in individual container 119, and without any damage to any ofthe items of clothing because of the preclusion of entanglement of thesevarious items of clothing one with another. While I have illustrated buttwo small individualized containers 117 and 118 with one enlargedindividual container 119, in the modified embodiment of FIG. 3, it is tobe understood that this over-all container 111 can be divided by linesof stitching into any desired number of individual containers inrelation to variable sizes of enlarged containers.

I have shown in FIGS. 4 and of the annexed drawings variations inclosure means for the improved segregated article washing unit of thepresent invention as exemplified in the overall containers or mesh bagsin FIGS. 1-3, inclusive. In FIG. 4, I have shown snapfastener closuremeans, generally designated by the reference numeral 236, for theover-all mesh bag or network unit 211. To this end, the lateralextremities of the longitudinally folded piece of network 212 are, inturn, folded upon themselves to form lap extensions 231 on each of suchlateral extremities of the piece of folded network 212; and a series offemale snap-fastener elements 236 are secured to the mesh 212 in spacedrelationship to one another along the lateral extremities thereof forcooperation with complementary male snap-fastener elements 237 which aresecured to the folded network 212 near the top of the ends thereofopposite from the lap extensions 231. By un-buttoning one or moresnap-fasteners 234 access may be had to any desired one of the smallindividual containers or pockets of the over-all network containerembodying the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, which is in enlarged detail, I provide as analternative closure means a conventional zipper, generally designated bythe reference numeral 33%) consisting of the usual track elements 331with slider element 332 in mesh therewith. It is to be understood hatthe zipper element 331? is applied to opposed lateral extremities of theover-all container 311 so that there are provided op-enable closures onopposite sides of the network container 311 and provides access to theindividualized smaller containers 317, 318, etc, to which the over-allnetwork container is divided by lines of stitching, such as the line ofstitching 326 dividing the centainer into the pockets 317 and 318 inwhich segregated lots of the same or different types or articles ofwearing apparel may be disposed for washing in a single operation andwithout likelihood of any entanglement between the various articles onewith another.

One of the principal features of the present invention, as embodied inthe segregated article washing unit depicted in the accompanyingdrawings is that tire formed individualized smaller containers open inopposite directions to the sides of the over-all network container thuspermitting ready access into these individualized containers through theopenable closures hereinabove specified for disposing different articlesinto the different compartments and also afiording means for maintainingthe various articles in segregated lots, all to the advantage of thehousewife.

It is to be understood that the appended claims are to be accorded arange of equivalents commensurate in scope with the advance made overthe prior art.

I claim:

1. A segregated article washing unit comprising a flexible networkcontainer divided by intersecting lines of stitching into a plurality ofindividual pockets for receiving articles of apparel; one of said linesof stitching being common to all of said pockets and serving as a bottomtherefor, some of said pockets opening to one side of said container andothers of said pockets opening to the other side of said container, andopenable closures extending along the sides of said container to closesaid pockets and to confine the contents of said plurality of pocketstherein during the washing of the contents thereof and therebyprecluding the entanglement of the contents of any of said pockets withthe contents of other pockets at anytime.

2. A segregated article washing unit comprising a flexible networkcontainer divided into a plurality of small compartments for thereception of the same type or different kinds of articles of apparel forwashing, some of said pockets opening to one side of said flexiblenetwork container and others of said compartments opening to the otherside of said flexible container, a first closure means extending alongsaid one side of said container for closing the compartments opening tosaid one side of said container, and a second closure means extendingalong the other sid of said container for closing the compartmentsopening to said other side of said container thereby precluding theentanglement of articles contained in the various compartments with oneanother andmaintaining said articles of apparel in segregated lotsduring a washing operation.

3. A washing unit for enabling the washing of a plurality of differentlaundry items in lots segregated from one another within the unitthereby avoiding tangling and intermingling of the laundry items of thelots one with another; said Washing unit comprising a folded flexiblenetwork sheet defining adjacent longitudinal extremities arrangedtogether, a first line of stitching through said adjacent longitudinalextremities to provide openings at opposite sides of said sheet, asecond line of stitching through said folded flexible network sheetalong a transverse medial line thereof, at least one line of stitchingthrough said folded flexible network sheet from side to side thereof todivide the same into a plurality of adjacently disposed pockets openingto one side and a plurality of pockets opening to the other side of saidfolded flexible network sheet, and openable closures along each side ofsaid sheet to close said openings at opposite sides of said sheets aswell as to close all of said pockets to prevent dislodgement from saidpockets of any items of laundry during Washing of said items.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS PinkAug. 16, Cox June 4, Phair et a1. Sept. 2, Baxter Mar. 2, Lyon July 8,Solomon Sept. 27, Martin Jan. 31, Sparrow Sept. 18,

